


ME

by Moonsetta



Series: DUO [10]
Category: Batman (Comics), Justice League of America (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Abuse Colin, Bat Family, Forced Relationship, Infant Death, Mystery, Sad, Spoiler Nell, Triplets, Trouble, amused children, angry partners, brother, friends - Freeform, parenting highs and lows, problem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-02 22:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4076581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonsetta/pseuds/Moonsetta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I want to be a big brother!”</p><p>Chapter 3+ Chronicles with the triplets<br/>Promise: The League's been captured. Bla, bla, bla...but Batman already knows he's dead.<br/>Glow: "Damian, dad's on TV and he's all glowing and stuff!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK, this is a spin-off to BE. I never intended to write further into this but then someone left the idea in a review and as soon as I read it I was like…….darn it! Thanks, even if I never post it, I HAVE to go write it now!
> 
> But I've since been convinced to post it. So, here we go!
> 
> Any mistakes-blame my Beta-Reader.

Damian Wayne was a proud hero and he was determined to see that he was on the streets by the end of the week. That was his mindset when he was down in the cave midmorning on June 12th…or at least that was the mindset he set himself with when he began training. He had paid no attention to where Drake was fixated on tightening a bolt on his bike across the cave.

“No Replacement, no.”

Oh yeah, and Jason Todd had made one of his surprise visits. The ten, nearly eleven now, year old assassin had found that the visits were putting his parents at ease as of late. A spark of jealously was igniting in his belly at that but he passed it off as not eating enough lately. Planning the wedding had kept him pretty busy the past two months but he found the situation worth the trouble. He did still have a bit of a problem with the remnants of the Titans but the fools were easy enough to chase away if they ever came close to Gotham.

He wasn’t looking for the moment. Not at all.

“-and what, you’re the expert on this?” Tim asked from where he was sitting next to the R-cycle.

Beside him Jason huffed but leaned forward a bit to point at the inner workings of the motorcycle stating, “I don’t claim to be nothing but if you don’t bypass that then it’s gonna fry that fancy computer system you put in it.” 

“Fine.”

Apparently the Teen Wonder was growing a bit resentful because he reached for something inside that was apparently the wrong wire or bolt.

“DON’T!” Jason yelled and reached out to pull Tim aside before a glowing fuel cylinder shot its way out of the insides of the bike.

The canister in question shot through the air exactly where Tim’s head would have been had Jason not pulled him aside. Across the room, Damian was staring. There was something there and the child was trying to figure it out. 

“Would you be careful Replacement? I don’t want to have to explain to the Bad Bat and Big Bird why you’re impaled and pinned to the wall by a radiated fuel cylinder. In fact, I probably couldn’t explain it. They’d just kill me!”

Tim huffed and shook himself free of Jason’s grasp before rolling his eyes and then muttering, “So glad you saved me for the right reasons.”

Damian wasn’t thinking about it. Not actively anyways. After all, he had training, both his parents’ trainings and he had his summer project that his teacher insisted he do about the history of European Privateers. Perhaps there was a seed of interest in his mind, but it was not a viable thought because there were more important matters at the moment but if his mind was rolling the idea around in the back of his cerebrum…well it seemed to be out of his control.

* * *

 

Their patrol that night was what kind of cemented the idea. In some strange way that Damian couldn’t define…IT had happened.

It wasn’t his first patrol in his own costume. Far from it. He had gone out in it before, even if most of those events were without permission or partners and there had been a few emergencies as well.

“So what do we call you?” 

Damian had just applied his black mask to his face when Tim-no Robin asked the question. The child assassin turned to find that he and Timothy Drake were the only ones ready to leave. Jason was just pulling on his jacket and was without his red mask or helmet standing by his own bike (he had finally followed through and told everyone that last month it had been dumped in the bay by Mr. Freeze-that was why he had been stealing Robin’s-Bruce had just bought him a new one) Cassandra was standing next to an examination table without her mask or cape and her belt was in her hands as she looked through the pockets, next to her Stephanie was sitting on said examination table, she only had her basic suit on, the pouches, cloak, mask, boots and gloves were in a pile next to her and finally his parents were in the very back section of the cave, talking quietly with one another. Damian couldn’t see them very well but he was certain that they were already fully suited up. 

“Well?” Robin prompted again, gaining the boy’s attention again.

“He looks like a penguin to me,” Jason laughed from his bike where he now had his mask over his eyes and was reaching for his gloves.

Damian growled, reaching up to pull his hood up and over his head, “It’s Domino.” (1)

* * *

 

“Father let me go!” the newly framed Domino whined when Batman had reached out and snatched him back from where he had been standing on the edge of the Winston Bakery Tower.

“What have we been over?” the Dark Knight asked with a strict visage.

The kid sighed and repeated, “Do not go beyond the 11th Warehouse district or the Amusement Villa in Grover Meadows.”

“And-”

“Gotham Docks is off limits until I’m 13.”

“And if-”

“-if the situation is above my ability I’m to not intervene, go straight to you or Dad. I know. I know. Can I go now?”

“Are you giving me attitude?” Batman growled

“Dad!” Domino whined

Chuckling under his breath, Nightwing walked across the rooftop to join the two before speaking.

“Mind your Father Lil D.”

“Yes sir.”

Nonetheless, the blue and black themed hero reached out, pulled Batman’s grasp from around the child’s cloak and said, “OK, go beat up bad guys.”

“Finally!” the child yelled and threw himself off of the roof.

“And stay on the patrol paths I gave you!” Batman shouted after his son.

“Oh B, he’s as determined as you are,” Nightwing said with a smile, dropping Batman’s hand and reaching up to pat the man on his armored shoulder.

“I think it’s more of your enthusiasm rubbing off on him,” the Dark Knight muttered, casting a side long glance at his partner. 

“Says the man who flew to Cancun last night to take down a coral smuggler.”

“I was checking on a loop hole! I just happened to be in the area…”

“Yeah, any luck with that loop hole?”

Silence.

Well, at least Dick hadn’t gotten his hopes too high. He missed dating…but now he couldn’t. He was afraid to see a girl for fear the woman would end up with a knife in her back when Damian found out. Though the same had to be true for Bruce as well and he had a bigger social view to fill!

“You know,” Batman began, reaching over with a smirk to rest a hand on his partner’s shoulder before applying pressure and pushing him back against a conveniently located maintenance shed, “I find being married isn’t so bad.”

“Duh! WHAT?”

And then Batman smiled before running and throwing himself towards the nearest building. Back on the bakery rooftop Nightwing stuttered a few more lines of random noise dialogue before growling in anger. 

Batman was freaking teasing him! Oh he was so going to pay!

* * *

 

Nothing particular on patrol made Damian THINK about the idea again. He was perfectly happy…well OK he could have superior teachers in the school his parents insisted on sending him to and it would have been nice if his Dad could stay in Gotham all of the time instead of rushing back to New York when he had a case, or was fed up with his Father or even turned up for a summoning from the JSA or the Outsiders. Yet, it was a good life!

-so why did it seem like something was missing all of a sudden?

These were the thoughts running through the head of Damian Grayson-Wayne (he had already changed his name after patrol and whether people knew/accepted it or not-too bad!) as he settled down at his art desk. He had actually been planning to work on some new add-ons for the BatJet but ended up drawing a poster for some ridiculous candy bar that he had seen the other day when he was downtown with his best friends Colin and Nell.

He hummed and closed his newest sketch book. His previous one was already on the far corner of his art desk the familiar Bat symbol stretched over the front while the one he was closing bore a bright blue bird on the cover. 

Finally he let the thought…come to the forefront of his mind. It wasn’t impossible. Not in the current day and age. It was even acceptable to most people at this point. Would he like it though? Would his parents? He prided himself on catching the majority of Bruce Wayne’s and Dick Grayson’s attention these days but-

Why would the thought not leave him?

Why did it have such an…allure? 

He would…he would care. He definitely would!

Eyes narrowed in determination, Damian got to his feet, walked out of his room and made his way down to the north sitting room, following the sound of familial voices.

“…but then that’s backed by the Japanese Credence of 84’ Bruce.”

“Ugh! Having any luck over there Tim?”

Damian frowned and entered the room, finding his parents on the black loveseat shuffling through piles of papers. The boy nearly sighed. Really he did appreciate that his parents were checking every decree and clause possible to ensure the marriage contract could not be broken but he had personally already been through most of them and so had the three teams he had hired. Nothing was breaking that contract, but if his father and dad wanted to be absolutely certain, he wouldn’t interfere if it would set their minds at ease. Unfortunately Tim Drake was in the room also, sitting in an armchair to the right of the loveseat that had faded from a once bright red to a horrendous puke orange (Note to self: Mention this to Alfred so they could get some new furniture), his nose buried in a stack of forms of his own.

Damian growled a bit at that. IF Tim was searching the contract he might be a danger. If anyone could find a loophole it would be him….thank goodness the head of his second research team had covered that though!

“Anything?” Bruce asked his child.

“Sorry,” Tim said with a shrug and a frown at the papers he was scanning before continuing, “I haven’t found any loopholes and according to clause 738 even I found one I couldn’t tell you guys about it.”

“Even the loopholes are insured?” Dick asked with a sigh.

“That’s classified.”

Bruce groaned.

“Drake don’t you have something else to do?” Damian asked from his stance in the doorway, leaning against one side and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Demon,” Tim muttered.

“Damian?” Dick and Bruce asked in unnecessary, unplanned unison as the boy traversed the plush carpet to stand by the armchair and glare at his brother.

“What?” Tim asked.

“Move and leave the room while you’re at it.”

“Damian!” Bruce growled.

“What? I wish to speak with you and Dad without Drake in our presence.”

“Dami, come here,” Dick ordered softly.

The child assassin bit his lip in thought before walking towards his parents. Before he knew it he had been pulled up on the loveseat between the two of them. Bruce was still glaring slightly and Dick just looked tired beyond belief. That, instantly worried Damian.

“Dad, are you ill? You look tired.”

“Huh? Oh it was just a case that kept me out most of the day. Nothing big, I’ll just sleep in a bit.”

“You are not well!” Damian rallied before turning back to Bruce Wayne, who was now eyeing his eldest protégé with a similar worried look, before demanding, “Father, make him go to bed!”

“Perhaps you should rest Dick,” Bruce murmured, reaching out to lay a hand on the acrobat’s forehead to check for a fever.

“I thought he was looking pale,” Tim intervened.

“Then why didn’t you say anything!” Damian accused.

“Damian! Enough!” Bruce roared.

“But Father-!”

“..Dami please, I do have a bit of a headache,” Dick admitted softly, brushing Bruce’s hand from his forehead gently before resting a hand on the child assassin’s shoulder.

“Sorry Dad,” Damian said quietly.

“Jason’s right, you’re the freaking Demon Whisper Dick,” the teen beside the trio said with a shake of his head before getting to his feet and heading towards the door while calling back, “I’m going to bed. Good night!”

“Demon Whisper? Father, what is that?”

“Uh, never mind demons son. You said you wanted to…talk to us?” Bruce asked, casting a slightly worried look to his partner, who was returning it.

What was with that pause…?

Oh well- he was on a mission!

“Father? Dad?”

“Hmm?” the duo hummed at the same time.

“I want to be a big brother!”

* * *

 

“No way! Absolutely no way can this be happening!” Bruce muttered as he paced the kitchen of the Manor the next afternoon.

Over by the stove Alfred was chuckling over a pot of potatoes while amusingly stating, “He is certainly your son Master Bruce. He gets what he wants.”

“I’m beginning to like the kid, in a creepy respectful way,” Jason said from where he and Tim were sitting at the breakfast bar of their kitchen.

“I have to admit that his methods are…effective,” Tim admitted, twirling the remaining liquid of his coffee around at the bottom of his cup.

“He’s already gotten Dick and I married and now he wants us to have kids!”

The teen chuckled and reassured his mentor with, “Calm down Bruce, there’s no way you or Dick could get pregnant.”

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch Replacement. I mean for all we know a little alien or spiritual manipulation here or there and boom! We wake up to see one of them as big as a watermelon…I’m betting on Bruce.”

“Ugh, Jason I did not need that mental image!” Tim complained.

“Where IS the Demon Whisper anyways?” Jason asked.

“He took Damian to the Mall with his friends,” Bruce said.

“Well thankfully he can’t pick up cloning technology in the Sports Department,” Tim muttered with an eye roll.

“If I were you Master Tim, I wouldn’t give him the idea,” Alfred mentioned from his place by the stove with a smirk.

“Bruce, let him forget about it. He’s probably just going through a phase,” Tim suggested.

In these times…in this world….people really needed to be more careful with their words.

* * *

 

No, cloning technology could be neither found in nor built from the items in the Sports department. Damian, or more precisely Domino, had had to go to Star Labs for the proper equipment the next day. Since his parents’ marriage he no longer had ninja at his disposal for he had left them after the end of the wedding. A gas bomb had knocked them all out and he had instructed his jet to return them to the last location he remembered from his mother’s last messages. He had spoken to neither Talia nor Ra’s in nearly half a year but it didn’t matter anymore for he had decided to leave Al Ghul behind him, save for some pools of personal finances. He had a new life now, much better than before.

Talia was no longer: ‘Mother’ in his mind.

And Ra’s was no longer: ‘Grandfather’.

And if anyone wanted to know…it felt freaking fantastic!

Still, he was in the underground PN-10 South branch of Star Labs (his friends Colin and Nell were covering for him back at the mall long enough for him take advantage of the nearby easily-hacked JLA transporter) to locate what would be required. He had the basic materials he needed, serums, samples, catalysts, bases, acids. The equipment was going to be the tricky part as it would require manpower.

A footstep echoed from a door on the far side of the room and the masked kid smirked.

Oh yeah, and he needed a specialist.

It wasn’t kidnapping-  
…he was going to pay the man.

* * *

 

“Am I a bad parent?”

Jason nearly ended up banging his head on the bar of the weights he was lifting.

He was in the Manor as he needed to hide out from a gang buster he had kind of…pissed off. So he had promptly said he was staying for a week; five days down-two more days to go. He just didn’t think he’d be talking sap with Bruce Wayne of all people!

“What?”

The red head turned to find his foster father, in a business suit (it was either that or the cape and cowl with him) leaning against the doorway of the gym. It had been three days since the revelation from Damian that he wanted a younger sibling. 

Jason snorted, “Go ask your wife Brucie.”

“He is not my wife!”

The younger man chuckled. He was gonna get years of teasing out of this on both Bruce and Dick…and he was going to enjoy every second of it!

“Fine: your boy-toy, your boyfriend, your partner, your lover, etc. Whatever...”

“Jason, shut up.”

“Hey, YOU asked ME a question. What was it again?”

Bruce groaned and ran a hand through his dark hair while taking two deep breaths before aligning his gaze with his son’s again.

“Am I a bad parent?”

“Why don’t you ask the others?”

Bruce surprisingly did NOT grace him with answer. Note the sarcasm. 

Jason sighed and said, “No. You’re not a bad parent. What brought this up?”

“Damian’s been going out more lately and-”

“Oh my god, I can quell Dick’s fear now because you are SO the woman of your relationship! The kid is fine!”

“-but!”

“Damn it, you two had an argument about it this morning didn’t you?”

“Well we-”

“So that’s why Big Bird took off for New York today?”

The billionaire growled and stomped off.

“Nice talking to ya and all! Jeez…paranoid Bat.”

* * *

“Over there Abuse,” Domino directed his buffed up best friend to the far side of the lab.

“Da-Domino?”

The young boy turned and found his newest best friend standing by the doorway awkwardly.

“Yes Spoiler?”

The hooded girl actually had the now unconscious specialist that they had retrieved a few days earlier sitting in a rolling computer chair. 

“Where do you want him?”

Domino turned and pointed to where a long 3 meter table was set up against the lab’s left wall. The black marble top was covered in all of the chemicals and additional supplies that would be needed, including containers such as beakers, vacuum sealed plastic bags, petre dishes, graduated cylinders, test tubes and a fair range of glass boxes. 

“Over there so he can get to work the minute he’s up.”

“That’s everything,” the buffed up Abuse breathed as he walked back towards his best friend and away from the molecular scanner he had just placed.

As he walked he closed his eyes in focus to work at bringing his buffed up body back to its normal kid size.

“Excellent, everything is in place. Now we unfortunately must wait for Mr. Hale to awaken,” Domino said with an annoyed sigh.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have had Abuse hit him over the head?” the new Spoiler asked, reaching for the unconscious man’s bound hands to release them.  
After all he would need them to work. 

“Oops?” the now child form of Abuse said with a shrug. 

“Well, the past cannot be changed. We have no choice,” Domino explained with a non-caring shrug of his own as he raised a hand to lay it against the sword that hung from his belt.

“So, are you getting a little brother or a little sister?” Abuse asked.

* * *

 

It was a Friday evening-of course-when Superman rushed into the Batcave.

“Hey!” the kryptonian scanned the area, hoping to find his teammate but awkwardly only came upon the man’s kind-of-dead but now-again-alive son Jason.

Who unfortunately or fortunately, had his gun aimed at Superman from where he was sitting by his motorcycle. The Man of Steel took a moment to take in the man’s grease stained hands but then tossed the thought aside. 

“Well, ain’t this a big surprise?” 

“You know that gun’s not going to do anything right?” Superman said, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Jason snorted behind the barrel but did lower the weapon before inquring, “You realize that save Golden Boy and Replacement we all carry kryptonite?”

“You do?”

Jason sighed and holstered his gun, he was obviously not going to be having any fun tonight but seriously was he actually surprised?

“Just never piss off Huntress and Misfit’s more interested in the fact that it’s shiny than anything. What are you doing here?”

“Where’s Batman?”

Jason smirked. Never mind, this was going to be fun!

“On his honeymoon.”

“What!?”

“Yeah he wanted to shack up with Big Bird so they flew to Cancun last night.”

Superman seemed surprised but only for a second. His eyes slowly lowered in disbelief.

“Nice try, I can hear Dick’s heartbeat upstairs.”

Damn it. That was going to be fun! Pout.

The red head sighed, dropped the charade and answered, “Fine. The Bat flew to Tokyo with Cass.”

“Why?”

“She wanted a new start, so she left Batgirl to Replacement’s ditzy blonde but Bruce wanted to see she was well off and had a hold of Wayne Enterprises there.”

“When is he going to be back?”

“Not until tomorrow afternoon. Can’t the League do anything without him? You are a reporter aren’t you?”

“Well yes but-ugh never mind. We just need a detective. I’ll ask Dick.”

The Man of Steel turned towards the ascending staircase but had to stop-

“Don’t bother, Golden Boy‘s down with a migraine-has been down with it for the past 36 hours.”

“What happened?” 

Great. Did he really want a mother-hen kryptonian in the same cave with him? No. No he did not. Jason got to his feet, crossed the expansive platform where they kept their vehicles, ascended the stone steps that lead to the medical area and headed for the nearest sink to wash the grease and oil from his hands. In no time there was a whoosh! And Superman was right behind him.

“What happened?”

The red head shrugged but conceded to answer, “I don’t know all of the details. All I do know is that last week our little Demon Spawn went off one of his patrol paths, the Bat chewed him out something awful, Golden Boy attempted damage control, got into a ‘disagreement’ with the Bat, then ran back to New York. Bats fell into depression AGAIN, and then there was some news coverage of some new lunatic in New York that Big Bird took down with the JSA. Bats fell into even MORE depression, I unfortunately ended up being the one that had to talk sap with him-he owes me a favor for that, then Dick came back and everything seemed to be good again. After Wednesday’s patrol though before Bruce and Cass left Dick complained of a headache and went to bed. He’s been there since.”

“Does anyone know what’s wrong?”

Jason snorted as he finally got the last of the grease off, turned off the facet and reached for a nearby towel hanging on the side of the cabinet beside the sink.

“The little Demon thinks he’s possessed, The Big Bad Bat has tests running for extraterrestrial infection, magic spells and/or curses. Then Replacement thinks it’s just the stress of being Bruce’s lover and the Demon’s Mommy and I’m inclined to agree with HIM. That cannot be easy.”

When he heard nothing, Jason turned from drying his hands and found Superman shocked stiff.

“But-I thought they weren’t together?”

“Clark, you were there for the wedding. The Demon had The Outsiders find and drag me there so I know you were.”

“-But that was Damian’s doing!”

Jason sighed in annoyance before saying, “The kid is a manipulative little aristocratic bastard, and he gets what he wants. He really is Bruce’s son. So, why did you need a detective?”

The kryptonian before him shook his head, seemingly shaking off the conversation they had just had before straightening up and taking an unnecessary deep breath.

“The League’s been investigating a small branch of Star Labs. After getting into their files we found the location of an even smaller branch hidden near the outskirts of Metropolis somewhere underground.”

“So?”

“There’s evidence of very distinct ‘Cloning’ technology among their imports.”

The younger man tilted his head in confusion before folding up the towel draped over his hands and laying it down by the edge of the sink.

“You already have a clone.”

“Which is why I’m worried. If someone is trying to clone me again-”

“-They may not come out as stable as Conner did but why do you need Bats or Big Bird for that?”

“The encryption security locks are…beyond our abilities.”

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be a genius or something?”

“Well I do-well I will admit when this stuff is beyond my abilities. Star Labs isn’t exactly known for their non-magic nor non-kryptonite defenses these days.”

Jason leaned back against the counter beside the sink and sighed out, “Well you’re out of luck. As I said, Bruce in in Tokyo, Dick’s down for the count at the moment and in case you’re thinking about him don’t bother-Replacement is off world with the Titans. “

“What about you?”

The younger man snorted, “What about me? I’m not an all-around good guy.”

“But Batman trained you so you must be able to help.”

“Why would I help you Flyboy?”

“Well I suppose I could ask Huntress or this new Batgirl?”

Jason huffed, crossed his arms over his chest and muttered, “Fine. Where to?”

* * *

 

“Are we sure about this?” Flash whispered as he watched the Anti-Hero known as The Red Hood start typing at the console that sat in front of the main door of the underground lab.

“Not really,” Superman spoke softly too as everyone on their team turned to look at said anti-hero very cautiously as the Man of Steel continued, “I didn’t have much of a choice though.”

A loud three beeps echoed from a speaker above the doorway and The Red Hood said, “Alright we’re in. Now let’s see what this big project is all about. Did anyone find any more details on it?”

Hal Jordon floated over to his side, surprisingly being very accepting of their new ally, although, perhaps he was just accepting that age-old-excuse ‘he’s a bat’ and going with the flow.

“I found a lot. It’s apparently a commission.”

“Star Labs doesn’t do commissions though,” Flash pointed out from a few feet away as the group finally walked/floated into the lit-up hallway beyond the now open door.

Bored, the Scarlet Speedster sped ahead, just as much searching as trying to get out of range of the anti-hero they were suddenly working with.

“Exactly,” Superman muttered from above them.

“Any chance they’re doing actual research?” The Red Hood asked, trying to shake off the weirdness of the moment.

He was on a mission, with the Justice League. Really? What dimension was he in?

“Not sure,” Hal said with a hum.

“I found that they appear to want this ‘test-subject’ to be healthy but we have no idea what it is.”

“I thought it was a clone?” Red Hood asked, his eyes scanning the hallway for another door.

“We know they have cloning technology here,” Superman reminded them.

“Ah, so it could easily be a red herring.”

“A what?” Hal asked.

“You did go to High School didn’t you?” the now youngest member of their group asked.

“Hey! I found another door!” Flash called from around a newly revealed corner in the distance. 

The remainder of the team caught up and Jason broke away to use the console on the opposite wall.

“You find anything else on IT?” he asked the Lantern.

“They call it project NB.”

Jason closed both eyes in meditative thought. NB? He opened one to eye the Lantern suspiciously. Why was his brain suddenly saying he didn’t want to know what was beyond that doorway? And why the heck was he worried about those two letters? They did sound familiar but he couldn’t place them. Of course, they could mean a number of things he reminded himself, and set to unlocking this last door. Well, whatever was in there was the League’s problem and not his. Still, what was it about those letters? In fact, why had he agreed to this mission again? Ugh, he was just going to blame the Big Blue Boy Scout! That worked!

Finally, the last of the code was in and the proper files moved into place via their definitions. The door opened with a whoosh and the Justice League sped and floated inside. Jason chose not to follow them though. After all-their problem!

“Red Hood there’s another computer!”

“Damn it! Couldn’t you have just asked Oracle!?” the young hot head growled, it sounding a bit too much like his mentor’s for even his ears.

“She’s been offline for quite a while,” Hal Jordon said as he lit up the room within with his power ring. 

Jason scoffed but walked through the doorway, half expecting it to close behind him and trap the entire group inside but-it didn’t. Darn it! This would have to be the perfect set up for a horror movie. The inside of the lab looked much like the others they had seen in passing. This one sported one wall lined by a black marble counter, which was covered in varieties of tools, containers of goop/slime, small wired boxes (he wasn’t sure what they were for) that were falling apart, brown mushy somewhat solid-somewhat plasma stuff inside sealed plastic bags and a vacuum strangely sat on the far end of the countertop.  
The second wall housed four information towers that had light-up buttons blinking in every neon color known to man. It made Jason wonder how anyone told them apart. The last two walls each contained half a dozen computers each. Seriously, what would they need 12 computers for? Though, that did explain the four information towers that stretched all of the way to the ceiling on that one wall. 

-And to Jason’s utter annoyance there was yet another DOOR beside the last computer. He sighed and headed for said computer. It was elevated at a higher level than the others and had a glowing green band of light around the screen so it was probably important. Now, it took him very little time to get into the system. Batman had trained such skills into him for years and he’d developed some on his own. OK, given his beat-down, street-wise outlook he probably was the worst of his family at the computer stuff but he could get past this. That was the problem though: he had seen Star Labs security before and he often couldn’t get past it with hacking skills. Normally he resorted to a rocket launcher or some dynamite. 

Plain and simple-this was way too easy.

Honestly, after he had gotten past the first computer when the three heroes and single anti-hero had finally entered the underground labyrinth he was all for telling everyone that this was too obviously a trap. He humorously thought the group of heroes might have been imposters but a few scans from the sensors and cameras in the facility had disproved that theory. Not that he told them he was scanning them. Besides, the Man of Steel was being too much himself for there to be any doubt. 

And perhaps Jason would have brought up the possibility of it all being a trap because he had remained confused on the whole ‘needing-a-detective’ part until the fifth computer in the 3rd tunnel. The security had gone from just coding to substances, hypothetical situations and historical crime scenes. It asked for events to be placed in order, for certain objects in crime scenes to receive specific attention and even the classic: ‘who did it?’ questions. Who in the world would put such stuff in security systems though?  
Maybe this was a Batman test and no one knew it yet. It sounded exactly like something his mentor would do!

The Red Hood finally clicked off the last false article of a diamond dealer’s death a decade ago and the room came alive. Lantern retracted the green light into his ring and smiled in relief at the lights flickering on. 

Hmm, was he running out of energy?

“Door’s open,” Jason said to Superman who was-

…Already in the next room.

“Please no more computers,” Jason muttered.

He was getting tired of lines of numbers and letters, not to mention all of the past mysteries were getting him doubly pissed-off at the criminals he hadn’t shot lately!

“Uh Ja-Red Hood is there any information on that computer about Project NB?”

Ugh! He turned back to the computer though, looking for the files. He did find some via a simple live database search, but ignored the hidden coded files as he didn’t have the patience to bother with the decoding. 

“What do you want to know?” he called into the room.

“Any and everything about her.”

Waitaminute!

“Her?” Jason asked in shock.

“Her?” Flash and Green Lantern echoed.

All three men piled through the door and found themselves in a nightmarish room of pink, purple, white and SPARKLES!

And on the far wall was a white crib and oh crap! Jason shook off the shock and walked over to the kryptonian, suddenly noticing that he was stiff. 

“Uh, Superman?”

Jason finally made himself look over into said crib. Funny, he hadn’t noticed from a distance that the crib was incased a clear poly-foam plastic sphere. Three oxygen tanks were sitting up behind the crib as well. To top it all off, inside the crib was a sleeping little infant in a purple onesie. Her hair was an ashy onyx and her eyes were a bright blue. How did he know? Because they were open and the color resided around the edge of her iris. The remainder of the blue was grayed out, as if having been sprayed over with an airbrush and there was a particular shine to her eyes. It was a cloudy shine that Jason knew all too well and had seen too many times on the streets. He would have mentally thought of her skin, viewable on her face and tiny curled up fists…

…if it wasn’t the consistency of paste.

He didn’t move but he did hear the inhales of the Lantern and Speedster behind him.

“Supes?”

The Man of Steel had his eyes narrowed as he breathed, “Too late.”

Still, Superman was the only one capable of moving at the moment so he reached out and punched through the dome, the sound and feel of escaping oxygen confused the others until they noticed the sound of chipping ice from within and all balked as Clark reached in and pulled the frozen body from the ‘dome crib’, revealing a thin line of tight cloth around her neck, colored the same purple as her outfit. Her face was blue.

Jason ran from the room. 

HE WAS GOING TO KILL SOMEONE!

* * *

 

They took the Red Hood and the dead infant to the Watchtower, leaving only the Flash behind to download the information to a portable drive. Jason couldn’t even take a moment to think ‘Oh my goodness, now I’m in the Watchtower’ before Superman was trying to stop him from taking out one of their computers in a fit of rage. He and Clark were in the conveniently deserted medical bay with the infant in question, which was wrapped up in a sheet and lying on one of the medical beds. 

It had to be one of the scientists/doctors working there. Jason knew it!

“SUPES! SUPES! SUPES!” 

Suddenly Flash was in the room, sweating bullets for some reason while bouncing on the toes of his feet. His face though, looked like it had been through a strainer of fright. 

“Did you get everything?” Superman asked, finally releasing his atlas-like grip on Jason.

“Yeah, I got it all but you HAVE to look at this!”

He shoved a tablet device into Superman’s hands and the Man of Steel seemed to choke at what he saw.

“Uh, Jason?”

“WHAT!?”

The data tablet was turned towards him and his sudden red angered face drained to innocent shock white as his eyes crossed.

_Convergence Subject 1: Bruce ‘Batman’ Wayne_

_Convergence Subject 2: Dick ‘Nightwing’ Grayson_

Flash looked between the both of them very rapidly before reaching up to pull back his cowl, revealing the bright red hair of a now shrieking Wally West, “What do we do?!”

* * *

 

Cassandra had quite a hand on things in Tokyo it seemed but it made Bruce feel…old. His little girl, now all grown up made him frown. Sure Tim would keep him busy for maybe another year or two but then he’d be off to college and a job. Was this what they called empty nest syndrome? Why was it this powerful?

The others leaving to start their own lives throughout the years each had their own pain. He remembered when Dick first left for college. Neither Alfred nor he could stand it and they had treated the entire day like a funereal. Jason well-no one talked about that. So many days he could have lived differently…

Bruce found himself utterly grateful for Damian and if this brotherly rivalry with Tim kept up, there’d be a lot of memories there. Memory, such a fickle thing-like time.

The static of his comm suddenly rang out and his hands went to the communication panel to his left. He flipped a switch and he was instantly listening to labored breathing.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Uh Bats? It’s-”

“I know your voice Flash.”

“Well, yeah of course you do. Anyways, we need you at the Watchtower now!”

“What did Damian sneak into this time?”

Seriously, the kid had been getting so much better behaved as of late! He was going to pull a stupid stunt now? 

“Damian? No, this isn’t about the demon. Just, get to the Watchtower! Please?”

Batman almost sighed but grunted and switched the communication down in favor of opening a newer but no less familiar channel.

“Oracle?” he asked softly.

**_SCREECH!_ **

The Dark Knight flinched and cut the connection. OK, yeah…She still wasn’t talking to anyone outside of her own team so…

He tried another.

“Huntress?” 

A grunt echoed over the commlink before a couple of yelps.

“Get lost assholes you and your automatics! Now, what?”

“Can you get a hold of Oracle?”

“…sometimes. What, trouble in paradise?”

“Huntress,” he growled.

“OK. Fine. I’m just saying, off the record, she doesn’t want to talk to anyone since your little marriage-debacle. What do you want?”

“Any files that were transferred to the JLA mainframe within the last hour.”

“OK, but would you please talk to-”

He cut her off by switching off the communication board and yeah, she was going to be pissed the next time she saw him. Either way, Batman turned his jet towards the nearest League transporter. Time to find out what was bothering the League this time.

* * *

 

It was a late Friday afternoon, two days after he had recovered from his weird migraine. 

Dick Grayson got a call from the Justice League.

Nine words, in a sentence that was unusual but not exactly unheard of. Yes, he had declined a total of 42 invitations from varying members of the JLA over the years. He was NOT a member and half the time it seemed like Superman wanted to pull him into not just the League itself, but the founder’s little club. Which, made no sense except for the one time Superman had said that Dick had technically been there fighting with them all those years ago when they had first started the League, he had just happened to be Robin at that point. So technically, he WAS a founding member of the JLA, he just went by a different title now. Still, Nightwing had always refused the offer. His own mentor had extended the invitation a shocking total of five times himself-which was still pretty shocking to this day. Batman did not do invites, that was Superman’s job or Wonder Woman’s given that the Bat wasn’t a people person.

So, when Dick was having a rare week of enjoying his time staying with his penthouse in New York City-he got a very particular call. He was just climbing the stairs after some grocery shopping when his cell phone rang. Hands and arms being full at the moment, he couldn’t answer immediately but did after he hurried inside.

Weird, his place had never been this clean-he noticed as he fished for the mobile in his pocket. Of course, he hadn’t actually been around to make a mess of the place lately. He checked the screen of his phone and stared confused, as he didn’t recognize the number. Either way, he answered.

“Hello?”

“Nightwing, we need you to come to the Watchtower.”

“Clark? You know better than to call me on this phone.”

“I know. I just needed to reach you immediately.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Well it’s-”

There was an intake of breath over the line and then, a new voice.

“Dude, get up here!”

“Wally? What’s up?”

“Just get here. We found the thing and called the Bat and he’s-”

“Wait! What about Batman? Is he hurt?”

“No, we’re just confused up here. Hurry!”

“Alright, alright I’m on my way. I’ll see you soon.”

“OK, hurry. Bye.”

Dick put away his groceries quickly (accidently shoving a few boxes of cereal into his freezer and a bag of Oreos into his oven) and then made his way the transporter he had hidden behind his bedroom closet that would get him to his Night Tower. There, he quickly suited up and jumped into the transporter again.

-And OK. He still had the weird over-arching clearance to the Watchtower. He and Batman were going to have WORDS about that!

Unfortunately, he got no further than two steps inside said space satellite when a red blur was in front of him. Thankfully, it was a lifelong friend.

“Wally!” he smiled but then frowned at the stressed out look on his best friend’s face.

“Finally!” the Scarlet Speedster yelled and grabbed the finger striped gloved hand and began pulling his friend out of the room.

“Flash, what’s going on?”

The speedster said nothing until they skidded to a stop in front of the medical bay.

“Now, be calm dude-it’s a little shocking but-”

“I thought you said he wasn’t hurt!” Nightwing protested his eyes wide with worry. 

The Flash dropped his friend’s hand, threw up both of his own in mock surrender and quickly said, “He’s not hurt. We found-something…that concerns the both of you. We-he needs you. So get in there and help your husband!”

“We are not husbands!”

“You did get married.”

Nightwing slapped a hand over his forehead with a deep groan. One way or the other they WOULD FIND A LOOPHOLE IN THAT WEDDING CONTRACT! Somewhere-there had to be something somewhere!

Until then, it appeared that he was resigned to consequence. With a deep breath he reached out and opened the door. Flash waved and sped off when he did though. 

Traitor!

That aside, the medical bay appeared to be bare at first sight and empty except for the distant image of a very familiar red cape partially hidden behind a curtain.

“Superman?” Nightwing called and in less than a second before he could even blink, the Man of Steel had him sitting down on one of the many beds.

“Thank goodness you’re here. Now, just relax and stay calm.”

The younger man raised an eyebrow in question while he spoke, “I am calm-you’re the one that looks like he’s having an anxiety attack.”

“For good reason.”

“Where’s Batman?”

The kryptonian sighed and motioned to the closed curtain at the end of the room. 

“He’s back there. I agreed to let him try to explain. Go on.”

Now a little apprehensive, Nightwing gulped and got to his feet. At least Superman let him do that on his own! He made his way across the room and reached for the pale peach curtain. Suddenly, he felt worried. If Batman wasn’t hurt-what was it? He vaguely remembered Flash’s explanation that the League had found something concerning he and Batman but what could that be? Anything concerning the two of them was usually confined to Gotham City.  
He found two things unusual. There was a closed freezing cylinder chamber behind the curtain instead of a typical white medical bed and Batman was seated across from it, clutching a mass of pale purple cloth.

“Batman?”

“Nightwing?”

* * *

 

“OK, even I’m worried,” Green Lantern said, staring at the door to the small meeting room that held him, Superman and the Flash. 

“Yeah, they’ve been in there for nearly four hours,” Flash added.

“Well this is quite a shock,” Superman muttered.

The Man of Steel himself was float-pacing for lack of a better earth-term, in the small room. He wasn’t sure what to do. Gosh, why did human problems get this so complex? Every day seemed to be a struggle as he struggled to understand them. Them getting married, though it was the work of Batman’s manipulative little aristocrat of a son, was enough of a shock. The duo appearing with an infant would have definitely been the point at which most people would just up-and-quit. But now- he didn’t know what to think.

He knew they loved one another more than anything.

They had been tricked into a marriage as they didn’t have ‘romantic’ feelings for one another.

Damian had wanted them to be together.

Damian was a self-centered, gets-his-own-way aristocratic brat.

And someone-had cloned a baby with Bruce Wayne’s and Dick Grayson’s DNA.

Or was it that someone had cloned a baby with Batman’s and Nightwing’s DNA? The information had included that the infant was ‘commissioned’ but had no clear name of who commissioned it. It would have to be someone who knew that both of them were Batman and Nightwing and although Superman knew that Nightwing was known by many to be Dick Grayson-there were only a hand full of people who knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman though-and most of them were not good people. Not at all.

Still, he was more worried about what his friends were going through. It was shocking enough to find that some weird mysterious power or event had gifted you with a child but to then find that child dead in its infant form? Not to mention that the frozen pod she had been in and the cord around her neck suggested that Project NB was not exactly liked by whoever had been working there at the lab. 

And then there was the fact that it had been happening outside of Metropolis-the Man of Steel’s city! Why was the project being carried out there?

Uh, at this point his hair would start turning gray or maybe he’d be one of those that got white hair with age? Who knew? Superman shook away the random thought-now wasn’t the time!

“Please, tell me I’m not the only one with a million questions running through my head?” Flash asked.

“You’re not,” Hal said.

Superman stopped his float-pacing and settled down onto his feet before suggesting, “Maybe we should go check on them?”

“What the hell do you say in this situation though? Sorry?” the Lantern asked, shaking his head in a lost-state.

“I don’t know,” Flash said with a shrug.

Because he didn’t know either. What was actually safe to say? He knew that there were probably a million ‘wrong’ things to say and while Nightwing could forgive him for those wrong things-he didn’t want to hurt his best friend and he didn’t want to say anything wrong to Batman because well-Batman! There was really no winner. If he pissed off Batman-he might mysteriously vanish and if he pissed off Nightwing, he would hurt his best friend and he’d feel horrible for like EVER!

“One of us should go see how they are,” Flash agreed with Superman.

Hal nodded but then said, “I agree but-we should be looking more into the data…I’ll look at the data again, maybe there’s something we missed.”

“And I’ll go back to the lab to look around, we might have missed something there too,” Superman said.

“Meaning I get to tangle with the Bats?” Flash asked.

“Pretty much.”

_Swish! Swish!_

“Some teammates.”

* * *

 

Wally hesitated at the door to one of the private observation decks. The Watchtower’s surveillance system had recorded the two Bats leaving the medical room some five minutes before his arrival and coming here to…talk the red head guessed. One of the private observation rooms really was the best with its overview of the planet below. It was a nice place to talk. Still: PRIVATE. There was a reason the word was in the name and here he was about to interrupt something possibly very important and VERY personal. Nevertheless he took a deep breath and keyed in his access code by the panel beside the door. It slowly slid open, not making a sound and the Scarlet Speedster was shocked stiff at what he viewed inside. 

Now, the media painted its own picture of them all and there were some examples that stated that Batman was NOT a cold unfeeling bastard. If he had done a fraction of the things the media and fiction writers claimed, Wally was pretty certain the man would have been shot by one of his allies by now. Still, though not unheard of, Bruce was capable of affection and hurt feelings. Wally just hadn’t expected to see this. 

The Dark Knight himself was sitting on the floor with his back to the glass outer wall that allowed one to look out into space and down onto the earth. His knees were nearly drawn up to his chest, his arms were crossed over them and his face was halfway to being buried in those crossed arms. It was unnerving to see one of the Trinity in such a position-especially Batman. That wasn’t what caused the biggest shock though. Nightwing was kneeling beside his mentor, his hands sneaking around to clamp themselves down on the man’s shoulders.

“Bruce,” he whispered before pulling on the broad shoulders beneath his hands, forcing the older man to look up at him.

OK, he was going to leave. Wally was obviously intruding on a moment that he was not supposed to! Unfortunately-he couldn’t stop watching for some reason. It was like a wreck on the highway. You didn’t want to look-but you had to!

He might have tried to say something but when Batman turned and clung to his younger partner-Wally felt his mouth dry up. And he just up and lost it when he heard his best friend speak.

“You know I’d give you a child if I could.”

…!

He sped to the cafeteria leaving behind his brain, common sense, courage, grasp on reality, motivation and a bunch of other stuff along the trail he had just blazed. In the back of his mind, he thinks he would like them back sometime. You know-whenever they felt up to it because at the moment he was not going anywhere.

“Flash, are you OK?”

He remotely identified the voice shaking his shoulder as belonging to Wonder Woman but he was still lost somewhere.

* * *

 

Hal Jordon found nothing more among the data, even with the help of Martian Manhunter who he had sworn to secrecy about the entire situation. Superman had returned with a multitude of fingerprints, allowing him to identify all of the scientists involved in the project. Now, if only one of them would spill the identity of who commissioned the infant? Superman sent Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter to track them down. He would have sent Flash too, but he strangely couldn’t reach or locate him. So, the Man of Steel used his suddenly free time to track down his friends who had been affected by the strange tide of events occurring. 

He found the two on one of the private observation decks and saw that Flash was nowhere nearby. Hadn’t he been going to check on the duo? Well, perhaps he had left to give them some time alone after he checked on them? He hadn’t called anyone to raise any alarms so the Man of Steel assumed that his friends were…oh what was a safe word to use? 

Not ‘OK’ ‘fine’ ‘alright’ or even ‘stable’. They were: still-standing. That worked!

“Batman? Nightwing?”

The two turned around, as both had been glancing silently at the sight of the earth below and stared at their visitor. Batman seemed as stiff as ever but there was some kind of tiredness to the slight downturn of his lips. Nightwing on the other hand, wore the confusion and worry all over his face in that moment. 

“Are you…still-standing?” Superman asked stepping into the room and turning to close them all in by locking the door behind him. 

Taking the hint, both masked men removed their masks. Bruce Wayne was worried and Dick Grayson was shaken-looked so shaken that Clark almost sped over to rest a hand on his arm. The detective beat him to it strangely though, sliding an arm over the his partner’s shoulders in comfort. 

“The scientists?” Bruce asked his suddenly dark piercing gaze on the kryptonian…almost seemingly going through him.

“Hal and J’onn are rounding them up. We’re hoping one of them will tell us more about-um her and who made the commission.”

“Do you know the amount of the commission?” Dick asked who seemed just as determined as his mentor to reach answers even if his face still portrayed his confusion. 

Ah! This he could tell them!

“There was a base price of $10,000 and a $2,000 maintenance cost.”

“That’s not much,” Bruce pointed out.

“Yeah, so they’re not ridiculously rich,” Clark muttered.

“They could be,” Bruce said.

“-they may just not want to spend a lot of money,” Dick added.

“Still, that isn’t nearly worth all of the work and they wanted…” the detective stopped and bit his lip.

“Her to be healthy,” the kryptonian said quietly.

“Can we please stop saying ‘her’? She needs a name,” Dick demanded.

Dick focused his suddenly weak eyes on the floor as he leaned back slightly against the glass wall. Bruce’s arm slipped from around his shoulders and he grasped his hand instead. Not a hand hold of affection-simply one of grounding and comfort. Bruce looked back at Clark who blinked a few times, trying to decide if the look on Bruce’s face was one of ‘well-what-do-you-think?’ or one of ‘I-will-strangle-you-in-your-sleep-for-making-him-feel-bad!’

Clark put up his hands in mock surrender and said, “Hey, you’re the parents.”

OK, NOW Bruce was glaring at him with silent promises of torture and/or death. 

“Not. Funny. Clark.”

“Yeah, well you two think about that. I can hear Hal and J’onn are back I suppose you’ll be here?” 

“Leave,” Bruce growled.

OK. OK. Yikes! He was leaving!

* * *

 

He’d been blowing holes through a few no-good murders’ and rapists’ guts and skulls when he caught sight of a characteristic red blur leaving the road that lead to the Manor. A few seconds later a red and blue blur followed the same trail above the road. So Clark and Wally had seen to visit the family. Behind Reilly’s Pawn Shop Jason grumbled and reached up to remove the helmet from his head. 

Why was he so pissed?

Well, the little Hell Spawn manipulating Bruce and Dick into a marriage-that was fucking hilarious but a baby? He had been joking last month! 

-Wait had it really been just a month ago that he had been in the kitchen with the others, joking about kids being born of alien and magical manipulation?

Cloning. It felt like being hit by a lamp post but that was just what his old detective-trained brain was going over. All the years out on the streets hadn’t erased any of his foster father’s training. Sure, his temper got the best of him but now that it had run its course, Jason located the nearest sturdy object and sat down in the dark. It was midnight; he guessed anyways and rolled his helmet back and forth between his hands as he thought back to a few days ago.

He had left the Watchtower after Flash had called the Bat. There was no way, even if he had had control of his emotions, that Jason wanted to be around to face his old mentor and it wasn’t so much the confrontation as much as that he wouldn’t know what the hell to say to the man. What did you say? He assumed that they had called Dick too; after all, she was also his. What would he have said to Nightwing? Were you even supposed to say anything at all?

Jason had actually done everyone a favor by not going back to the lab. He knew how to collect fingerprints and track people down. Unfortunately, it was a Justice League matter now. He had left the Watchtower, teleported back to Gotham and just started beating up criminals. It felt good.

Well it HAD felt good but now he just felt drained. 

It seemed inevitable anyways. He walked around the side of the building to his new bike, put his helmet back on, mounted the bike and sped off towards Wayne Manor.  
Time to face whatever was there.

* * *

 

The Manor was quiet, that wasn’t a surprise as Alfred silently let him inside. The elderly butler said nothing but his face was all hard lines as he steered him through the believably empty Manor. Strangely, Jason was not lead to the den, study, sitting rooms, library, kitchen, dining room, outside or even to the cave. He was actually escorted to a back bedroom at the front of the second floor hallway. Which was strange but Jason didn’t pester Alfred because one, he knew better, two, he had more than enough respect for the man and three, his grandfather-figure looked unnerved. It was a scary sight and he was not one for pushing his luck tonight. 

The bedroom in question was an old guest bedroom. While most of the bedrooms in Wayne Manor came with a customary king-plus sized bed, the smaller guest rooms instead were furnished with two full sized beds. This is where he found them. Bruce and Dick were strangely dressed down and both asleep. Completely dead to the world, both men looked like they had stumbled in, fallen on the beds and just promptly passed out. 

Hmm, OK. He wouldn’t bother them.

But then-?

Where was the little Demon Spawn and if he had returned with the Titans-where was Replacement? 

* * *

 

At Titans Tower Tim Drake did NOT know the events that had occurred in his absence. In fact, his head was still buzzing in ‘Robin-Mode’ from his team’s mission to Neptune. Intergalactic bounty hunters were so annoying! In fact the team was just making its way to their meeting room to wrap up their last reports of the mission, only for Superboy and Wonder Girl to pick up the sound of an intruder within the room. Tired and not thinking strait, Tim later hypothesized, was the reason the group busted in with lassos, Batarangs, lasers and fists ready to fly.

Only to discover a familiar form leaning back in the head chair with an even more familiar scowl.

“Damian?” the teen wonder asked, lowering his bo and motioning to his teammates not to use any lethal movements or weapons…for the time being.

“About time you got back. I need to speak with you, Drake.”

“About what?”

“Our sister.”

“Something’s wrong with Cass?”

“No…Mary.”

Two minutes later Tim Drake had moved to his private room in Titans Tower with the ten year old midget assassin continuing to explain the situation. Safely hidden in the room both boys had unmasked, the younger claiming the older boy’s bed as a mock throne while he finished the tale. 

“Did you have anything to do with this!” Tim immediately said.

The black and white clothed hero scoffed then explained, “No, I did not hire a team of scientists to create a daughter for Father and Dad. Even if I had I would not be so stupid as to take my attention off of said child long enough for an insider to kill it.”

Tim moaned and buried his gloved hands into his hair. No. No! NO! This was NOT happening! A child? A freaking child was in this equation now?

A dead child?

“What about Bruce and Dick?” Tim heard himself ask.

Damian’s scowl fell into a frown as he spoke, “Home. Alfred drugged their dinner to stop them from doing anything stupid. West and Kent were there for a short time as well for the…funeral.”

Right. The child with no explanation couldn’t have come out of nowhere. It would have to have been a quiet event. 

Anticipating the questions to come, Damian retrieved a memory stick from a hidden pocket on the sheath of his sword and tossed it to his brother.

“That’s everything that the League has found. There are a number of scientists, all of which Lantern and Manhunter have already gathered up. The only thing missing from this case is the identity of the one who commissioned the infant.”

“And wait a minute. Is that why you’re here? You want MY help?”

“Tt! I do not need your help Drake. You should be grateful that I took the time to even inform you of this. I have my own theories of who commissioned the infant. I’m simply checking my facts.”

“And you need to check your facts with me-why?” Tim asked, an eyebrow rising above the confusion on his face.

“I have already checked them against both Father’s and the League’s database. I had just finished scanning the Titans’ mainframe when you and your misfit band returned.”

“We are not misfits!”

“Tt! You’re right. That would be an insult to Radcliffe. Either way, feel privileged that I have chosen to share this with you at all.”

“Brat.”

Damian pursed his lips in thought before seemingly letting go of the tension in his body, “Look Drake. I don’t like you. You’re in my way, but if my theory is correct than neither Father nor Dad can get involved with this.”

“Why not?”

“Look at the facts Drake,” the younger boy said, motioning to the memory stick the teen was still holding.

“I can at least hope you can see something there. When you are ready to assist me in this hunt you may find me at Dad’s Night-Tower as I believe his database will have the majority of the information that I will require on my last and most likely suspect.”

And much like the bat that sired him, Tim glanced back up from the memory stick to find the little demon brat gone from the room. 

Tim set a hand on his forehead. He did not feel good. 

* * *

 

Domino, as he was masked, was pulling the last bit of data Nightwing had collected on the suspect in question out of the Nightcomputer when he heard Robin enter the base. 

“Damian?” 

Strange, Tim’s voice had never sounded so hallow. It was a little unnerving even to Damian Wayne.

“Drake,” Domino shot back, after all if he wasn’t going to respect his mask why should he even recognize the other’s mask?

“This is crazy.”

“Tt! What was your first clue?”

A deep breath filled the air between them, even if the younger child hadn’t yet even turned away from the computer to stare at his brother. 

“Let’s get to work. Batman and Nightwing aren’t going to stay away from this for too long. As soon as the League informs them of the security measures set up….they’ll have this same list in no time.”

“Good. Let’s get started.”

* * *

 

The duo had stopped at a 24-hour burger place on their way back to Gotham just outside the city limits. Tim, perhaps harpooned by some good but strange feel-sympathetic-energy-juice during the night, had bought the little demon a milkshake and fries while he enjoyed a roast beef sandwich. Both were civilian dressed and sitting at an outside table as the clock ticked away the final minute to 4:00am.

“Strange has no such reserves of finances for such an operation even if his mental instability could lead to such an event,” Damian said as he shuffled through the papers on the table between them.

Yes. The brat had insisted on having hard copies to take notes on and physically organize while Tim had opted for a tablet due to less of a mess. 

“Toss out Lady Shiva,” Tim said with a sip of his soda.

“Would not a second child be only beneficial for her?” Damian asked. 

“Yes, but not a child of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. They’re not assassins and therefore any child created with them in mind would not be a benefit to Shiva at all.”

“Fine. What of Bane?”

“He’d certainly have the monetary resources to commission Star Labs and be smart enough to keep his identity secret if the project’s data was found but then again…” Tim trailed off.

Damian nodded sharply and stated, “Bane would not be stupid enough to hire through Star Labs though. The Justice League has a close watch on their activities at all times; he would know such a thing would be easily spotted.”

“IF he wanted to do it anyways, he’d do it himself,” Tim added.

“So with Bane: he has the resources but no motivation,” Damian summed it all up before practically mauling another fistful of fries. 

Alfred would so kill them for this grease and cholesterol consumption…oh well! They had a bigger problem on their hands at the moment anyways. 

Tim was…stuck. For this to be true so much-so many factors had to be aligned and most were hard-to-believe circumstances. 

For one, whoever it was had to know that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson were Batman and Nightwing. There was only a small group of people who knew BOTH of their identities. The list was short and getting shorter as the boys threw facts back and forth. Again, they had thrown out a fair number of suspects.

Hugo Strange: Crazy enough to do so, not rich enough

Lady Shiva: Rich enough (or able to get her hands on enough riches) but no motivation

Bane: Just wasn’t stupid enough.

“What about your grandfather?” Tim asked.

Surely it wouldn’t too far-fetched considering the immortality thing and the Lazarus pits…Damian himself?

“Who?”

Tim felt his head mentally make contact with an imaginary table.

“The gray haired scary dude that’s freaking immortal?!”

“…Alfred is in Gotham.”

The teen almost threw back a retort before a chuckle kind-of escaped his chest. Well, OK. That was fair. Even Damian was smirking but Tim shook the thoughts away as soon as they came. From what he had seen these past few years-did Alfred ever age? Was he immortal? Maybe he was secretly an alien?

Alright enough of that-Damian was scowling again. This kid needed a hobby. 

“I have not heard from Talia or Ra’s Al Ghul since two months prior to Father’s and Dad’s wedding,” Damian finally explained.

“Then this could be a revenge plot?”

“Tt! Neither Ra’s nor Talia would be so foolish as to align themselves with Star Labs.”

“And we’re certain none of our allies have done this?”

Damian snorted and elaborated, “I find it hard to believe anyone from Superman to Plastic Man would think this up. Hm, what of Dad’s Titans? I doubt the amazon as they have different methods of producing children. I doubt Harper would do this as he does not even like father. West clearly knew nothing about this as he was in the team that made the discovery. As for Garth-I don’t know much about him but I doubt an Atlantian would commission a surface world industry to do so. What of the others?”

Tim shook his head, his shoulders slumped and he stared down at the digital tablet in his hands worriedly. 

“We’re avoiding the answer here Damian.”

The younger boy gathered up the majority of his papers and tore them in half but left a single sheet of paper whole and lying face down on the table. Across from him Tim swiped fiercely at the code lines on his tablet, deleting each one as they appeared. In the end he had one open .DOC on the screen. A file extremely large and very detailed that he really didn’t like reading. 

“It’s obvious Drake. You should pass this information to a few choice ‘close friends’.”

The teen nodded and shut down his device. Now he just had to figure out whom to tell this to. 

“I’ll head back to Titans Tower,” Tim said, getting to his feet and picking up the remnants of his meal.

“Good, I have an errand to run nearby myself,” Damian said getting to his feet as well and tossing the cardboard and paper leftovers of his meal into a nearby trash can. 

“I’ll see you back home?” Tim asked.

“Tt! Try not to get lost Drake!” Damian sneered as he turned and walked towards the back of the restaurant. 

* * *

 

Superman was floating way above the earth, half soaking up the rays of the sun and half listening to the earth below. His mind was still going back and forth between ideas and possibilities. They knew. Well he, Martian Manhunter and Hal Jordon knew. The scientists, one in particular named Hale, had actually been very vocal about their employer and were all now in a safe house in Arizona. Their employer was a dangerous being. Now-what was the League supposed to do about it?

They kind of HAD to take care of it. Half because hell, it was Bruce! They liked him…most of the time anyways-and the other half because it was becoming so normal in society as of late! Eventually someone was going to do this clone thing with someone important and public chaos was going to rain down. In fact, if the right people found out about this-Bruce Wayne could be that important individual that caused mass chaos to occur. Then the political and social struggle that would follow would…well there were no words until it DID occur.

There were surprisingly very few laws anywhere concerning cloning and human court systems weren’t exactly prepared for it either. Besides, there was really no suing this suspect under the circumstances. They only thing they could really nail on said suspect was DNA theft and even then-besides, they had to FIND the suspect first. Said being was hiding somewhere but could only hide for so long as the Man of Steel was listening for their voice and vital signs, Martian Manhunter was mentally scanning for the wayward mind and Green Lantern was searching the older bases, putting those galactic police officer skills to work. 

Clark hadn’t heard from Bruce, hopefully he and Dick were resting. 

No matter what-this was not going to be easy on anyone.

* * *

 

Back on earth in the underground PN-10 South branch of Star Labs Domino was staring with wide eyes beneath his mask at the nutrition and growth chamber before him. He continued to stare for a short few moments before his eyes narrowed in thought. For a quick second his eyes wondered over to the now unconscious Doctor Harold Hale before auto-switching back to the chamber at his feet.

“This was not in the plan,” he thought slowly.

Really not in the plan. 

He bit his lip in thought as he turned and walked over to the scientist Hale, eyeing the cup of coffee that had put him to sleep. Alright then, what could he do in this situation? There was no turning back the clock and the entire thing had horribly bad timing for the event. Again though, what choice did he have? It had been a month and…well there weren’t any more delays that could be initiated. There was the other fact though-he needed help. 

Determined he reached for a special radio on his utility belt.

“Abuse. Spoiler. Report.”

“Reporting D!”

“Is there trouble? I’m ready!”

“No trouble, but I do need your…assistance with a…situation.”

Getting to the lab was no problem for the new young crime fighters of Gotham City(via Damian’s directions), who found their best friend standing in front of a tub of green slime a mere ten minutes after his call.

“Domino…did it work?” Spoiler asked with her voice muffled beneath her hood and cloak.

Beside her, Abuse looked over at the sleeping scientist for a moment before his eyes were back on the assassin. 

“We-there is a problem,” the gray cloaked child admitted.

“With the baby?”

“No, he’s sleeping soundly,” Domino motioned to the large crib set up in the far corner.

Perhaps if he had carried some dramatic flair from his parents, the boy would have made a big deal of the reveal-but he had no need for shocking revelations. Besides, this had to be a delicate balance of timing-not for the drama but for the endurance. 

“Oh I want to see him!” Spoiler squealed and rushed into the corner, stepping up a stair of crates to peer over and into the side of the makeshift crib. 

Eh! Girls! The bed itself really was just something the assassin child had thrown together with the materials available. That wasn’t his problem though. He nearly jumped at the shock of a strong hand on his shoulder but relaxed when he realized that it was merely Colin. Abuse.

“If your little brother is fine, what’s the problem?”

“Ah!” a gasp escaped Nell from the corner.

“Go see for yourself and then I have a story to tell the both of you.”

* * *

 

Nell, Colin and Damian (they had removed their masks to converse) stood about tapping a foot or shifting their weight awkwardly. They were in a circle in the center of the room and Dr. Snoozy just slept on as they tried to puzzle everything out. The young girl was a bit damp around the eyes from her friend’s tale of what had occurred in the past week. Colin was mostly confused but he did obtain a bit of determination in his eyes at the reveal of the villain. Then again, Damian had assured him that although Drake was a fool that he was capable of blithering about their results enough that the ‘right people’ would hear about the situation and seek to resolve it. Secretly, he hoped Drake had told Harper and the remainder of the founding Titans. That confrontation would be mildly entertaining.

Then again, that was not Damian’s problem at the moment.

“This sucks,” Colin finally said.

How did you spring this on a couple after they had experienced that?

“I think you should just tell them Damian. The sooner the better-right?” Nell asked, tilting her head so she could gaze at the crib.

“I was planning to but I didn’t plan for…this…and I can’t just get rid of…this...”

“This is awkward,” Colin said with a nod.

“Colin, that’s an understatement,” Nell sighed.

“Nell’s right though…I’m going to need both of you to help me with this,” Damian stated.

“Oh! Does that mean I get to-?”

Damian cut off his female friend with a Tt! and an eye roll, “Obviously.”

“Yes!”

“Shh! Don’t wake-”

A wail erupted into the air. Great!

* * *

 

Bruce Wayne awoke to the closing of a door and blinked away the after lights in his head as he pushed himself up. He managed to set himself vertically on the small bed. Dark blue eyes blinked away the aftereffect of what he recognized as a sleeping drug. Conniving butler! Alfred Pennyworth could have been a spy! The billionaire finally cleared his gaze enough that he saw dim light pouring through the room’s large single window from an outside light. In fact, a few drops of rain were lightly tapping the window pane and sliding down the glass. Rain on a clear night? Gotham City was capable of stranger events.

“Sleep well?”

Bruce turned and found Dick Grayson sitting at the foot of the bed he had fallen into. His elbows were on his knees, he was bent over and his head was in his hands. The older man didn’t bother with an answer but he did automatically get up and walk over to sit down next to his companion and lay a hand on his shoulder. As much as he loved him he had to be direct and blunt about this.

“She’s dead. There’s nothing we could have done. The only thing we can do now is find out who did this.”

Dick nodded before mentioning, “Damian was just here.”

“Hm?”

The younger man tilted his head towards the bedside table that sat between the two beds. Bruce turned and his sharp eyes made out the shape of a small box on the tabletop in the semi-darkness. The light outside was very dim after all. Curious, he leaned back and scooped up the box, letting his other hand drop from his protégé’s shoulder. It was a regular top and base box, not clamp or split. 

“Bruce?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Mary...her name.”

No, he was not thanking him for the infant herself but for not fighting the name right. Bruce just simply shrugged if off. Inside his own head he wasn’t entirely certain he could have stood seeing his own mother’s name on a grave again. Besides, Dick was much more emotional than him and if it gave the younger man a little comfort than that was an OK deal. Bruce tuned his attention back to the box in his hand and reached up to pull away the top. He noticed his companion smirking out of the corner of his eye before the gleam of gold, silver and diamonds drew back his gaze. 

Their rings…

“Damian thought they might bring us some comfort,” Dick muttered lowly.

Bruce’s eyes darted away from the rings and to his husband’s face, “Did you talk with him?”

“No, Jason was in the hall. I heard them talking.”

“Jason,” Bruce breathed out, conflicted.

He was here? Wayne Manor? OK, perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised about Jason showing up. Superman had reported that the Red Hood had been on the mission that discovered Mary. Maybe Jason and Damian were possibly even bonding over this event? They were both very characteristically protective of children (even though Damian was one himself) and had short fuses towards any villain that hurt kids. Ignoring the fighting thoughts in his head, Bruce stared back down at the two rings sitting upright inside the box with cloth covered clamps. Dick’s was still just as colorful and bright, Bruce’s still so…reflective…of so much. 

Bruce’s head shot up when he heard a sad chuckle escape his companion’s throat.

“I forget we’re married.”

OK, he gave in and let the right side of his mouth tilt up in a smirk. He hadn’t really forgotten…Damian had never let him. 

_Creak!_

Both men looked up towards the door as the rain outside started to pick up. Inside the doorframe, just as lightning clichély flashed, stood Jason Todd…who was smirking.

“Hey, if you two are busy renewing your vows or something I can give you a minute.”

Dick rolled his eyes at him before smiling and shaking his head, “Nah, maybe tomorrow Jason. What’s up?”

This immediately made Jason appear nervous as his smirk fell away only to be replaced by a very frightful frown. He gathered his thoughts though and took a deep breath.

“Listen, Replacement, the Little Demon, his friends, Alfred and Leslie are all downstairs in the den.”

Bruce frowned in thought but before he could open his mouth to ask, Jason was speaking again.

“Replacement and Demon Spawn found out who did it and the League did shortly after.”

“WHO?” Dick growled. 

“Don’t worry your tail feathers Big Bird, that hotheaded archer friend of yours lead the League right to him; though your Titans got there with him first. Wish Harper would have done more than try to saw his legs off. He was extremely pissed off-livid-think the whole lost and dead daughter hit him a little too personally.”

“Who?” this time it was Bruce growling. 

Jason sighed, crossing his arms over his chest as if he was bracing himself for an inevitable explosion before admitting, “You know him quite well…”  
A three second pause and then Jason spoke the name with a release of breath.

* * *

 

EPILOGUE

“Yes, initiate protocol-B1 for the cell. Don’t let him get away!”

“Our prisoner isn’t going anywhere. I’ve got Karen, Kara, J’onn, Billy, Dr. Fate and Hawkman on guard duty. I’ll be joining them myself after we end this call.”

“Marvel, Powergirl and Hawkman? How?”

“Well when I mentioned Ni-”

“OK, I get it! Just don’t let this prisoner escape.”

“We won’t Batman.”

“Good.”

“…”

“…”

“Clark?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Click!

Bruce dropped his phone, watching it plummet and slightly turn on the carpet beneath his feet as he felt his body fall against the nearby wall of the hallway. He stood there and just breathed.

“Just breathe,” he muttered.

Wayne Manor was quiet and he counted his blessings. Thankfully, everyone was respectful of the situation ad had all retired to their respective rooms.

“AHHHHH!!”

All except…

Bruce pushed himself off and away from the wall and made his way down the hall. He knew Alfred would be on him for dragging his feet on the carpet but he couldn’t find the energy to pick up his feet any more efficiently. He managed the trek in under a minute though! He had been meaning to check in on them anyways.

“Ahh! Hmmm…uh…”

The cries faded as soon as the man’s hand closed around the doorknob. 

Someone? 

He turned said doorknob and pushed the door open with a light click that gave way to the Manor’s hastily refurbished nursery. They had all rushed to put it in some semblance of order. Alfred and Leslie, bless their souls, had turned up with enough supplies for a long time. How they had ‘discretely’ exited the nearest store with said supplies he didn’t know-but it was Leslie and Alfred. He wouldn’t question their methods if it meant formula, diapers, bottles, etc… They’d go get more the next day but for now…

The billionaire’s eyes took in the scene at the window to his left and maybe lost a bit of his focus. Well, OK he did. Dick Grayson was staring back at him, a tiny navy colored blanket wrapped bundle in his arms as the acrobat and infant were shaded by the shadows of the clear evening.

“Hi,” the younger man breathed shyly.

The bundle in his arms attempted a squirm and successfully recaptured his handler’s attention. Dick shifted the infant to lean against his shoulder and smiled amusingly at the drool that stained his shirt as a result. It was mostly an exasperated grin but he didn’t seem to care. Bruce cleared his throat and stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him before walking over to the duo. His eyes caught the shade of the blanket and bit his lip. They hadn’t expected this.

“Hello,” he finally responded with a whisper.

Dick glanced back at his partner and quirked one side of his mouth upwards as he spoke.

“How’s...”

He lost the trail of his sentence for a moment as his eyes fell to the floor while he collected his words.

“…the Watchtower?”

“He’s under guard. Kryptonian, Thangarian, Magi and Martian.”

Dick blinked three times and then nodded.

“Where are Alfred and Leslie?” Bruce asked.

After all, he last saw the elderly duo giving a crude home checkup. 

“They went out front to the flower garden.”

Bruce nodded an OK and then focused his attention on the infant with its plump face pressed into his husband’s shoulder. He raised an attentive finger and reached out to run it over the fuzz of hair that covered the baby’s head. Small, tiny, soft…

It almost knocked him off of his feet. 

“Is Damian kicking and screaming?” Dick asked.

Bruce blinked and glanced back up at his partner before composing his face into some mock-semblance of control and answering the inquiry.

“No. He’s being compliant. He won’t be on patrol again until January IF he’s learned.”

Dick huffed out a quiet laugh before saying, “Damian being compliant?”

Bruce couldn’t help the escaped smirk as he answered, “Try to contain your shock.”

The two men shared a legit smile before a gurgling made them focus their attentions back on the infant in the younger man’s arms. A small whine immediately followed and Bruce began panicking. 

“Shh Tommy, It’s OK,” Dick whispered as he shifted the boy again and said boy attempted to roll out of his current position, pulling a laugh from the older man beside them.

After Tommy had been settled Dick turned back to his partner, a serious frown dotting his face.

“Everything Bruce.”

Bruce’s smile became sad and he sighed quietly before he straightened his previously relaxed posture.

“He’s in custody, the Titans took Roy out to get drunk-”

“I half wish I was there. This can’t be easy for Roy.”

“Can’t be easy for Roy? What about us?!”

“MMMMMmmmmm!”

“Shh Tommy-it’s OK. It’s OK. Your father didn’t mean to raise his voice.”

Damn. They couldn’t argue here.

“I know it’s hard Bruce-I just-”

“AAAAHHHH!”

The two men blinked and mentally groaned. Dick fully turned towards the window and pulled Thomas that bit closer to his chest before he muttered, “Don’t look at me-my hands are full.”

Bruce felt a mass of uncomfortable….feelings…ball up in his throat before he turned and walked to the middle of the room’s back wall beside a second window where the ancient Wayne crib sat. The monstrosity, that had once been his, was a huge and scary contraption with curved and faded bronze attributes that probably violated many modern safety regulations. Tim had attempted to fix a lot of the more dangerous parts of the crib, adding guards between the too wide bars, sanding/melting down sharp points and adding padding to the corners. Jason had strangely been the one to show up with baby blankets but hadn’t given an excuse before disappearing again.

“AHHHHH!”

He suddenly remembered why he had traversed the space and reached out towards the crying. Stepping back after his grip was secured Bruce brought the crying infant in his arms closer to his chest and bounced him in his arms.

Taking a page from his spouse he whispered softly, “Shh, it’s OK Jonathan. You’re OK. Quiet down.”

He pulled the tiny body closer and pressed the infant’s forehead to his chin as he continued to sooth him. Bruce felt more than heard his partner approach him from behind. Dick turned though and stepped up beside him to peer at the bundle of baby that he held.

“See Johnny? Tommy knows how to be quiet,” Dick mocked with a trembling mouth holding back an amused smile.

“Please?” Bruce begged, his eyes staring down into Jonny’s desperately. 

Miraculously it appeared to work as Johnny gave a sniffle a ‘gah’ then closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep with his ear pressed to his father’s chest-enjoying the steady drum of the heartbeat. Bruce gave a sigh of relief and moved slowly to place his son back into the crib. Dick followed suit with a weary eyed baby Thomas both men throwing a curious glance at the one still-silent bundle. Then they shared a glance between them, made a visual check that the crudely set-up monitor was still on and then quickly and quietly backed out of the room. Once the door was closed and the duo had made it down the hallway they finally switched back to their normal voices.

“Everything good?” Dick asked.

“Yeah,” Bruce breathed, too tired to bring up a fight.

“So…you mentioned in your report something about Salamanca?”

“Oh…”

“Oh?” Dick raised an irritated eyebrow.

The older man cleared his throat uncomfortably. 

“A loophole. A native tribe ceremony from the mid 1400’s.”

“1400’s?” Dick asked with wide eyes.

“Yes. Amazingly, it’s still viable to this day. Tradition and all.”

The younger man’s face fell as he whispered, “…but the kids. Our kids-”

Bruce shook his head as his jaw tightened and he muttered, “I know. Figures, I finally find a way out this and then-kids!”

Dick’s frown grew deeper as he took another step towards the side of the hallway, turned and leaned back against the wall. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes before taking a deep breath. 

“So, I suppose we dissolve the marriage first then fabricate some back stories to- what?”

Bruce was shaking his head.

Dick almost growled out, “Look I can take Johnny-say he’s an old girlfriend’s from college who died of cancer or left the country. That’ll be easy to fabricate.”

“That would only solve one third of our problem. While that would work now-what will we do five years down the road when someone realizes that the boys look exactly the same? When the world realizes how our children show only our features and no semblance of their supposed mothers?” 

Dick shut his mouth and blinked as his partner continued.

“Not to mention that this is the second time someone has created new life not just a clone-but a clone that can live to grow up. These boys aren’t like Connor Kent. They’re going to grow up and someone’s going to notice something. In addition-what’s going to stop someone else from doing this? Doing it for other purposes?”

The younger man released a quaint breath that was half a hidden sob. What could they do? 

Reveal the truth to the media? They risk their identities being revealed.

Cover it up? Though fine temporarily, someone would notice when the boys started to grow. 

Get rid of the kids? On a hot day in the bowels of Hell would they ever even think of-!

“So what do we do?”

“The way I see it we have mainly two options. One: We let Clark and Lois leak the story. They’ll be in possession of the files found at the scene.”

“Meaning we’re safe-they wouldn’t reveal our identities!”

“The League will have to be involved but Batman and Nightwing will need alibis that they were elsewhere when this occurred.”

“So: Clark, Hal, Roy, J’onn and Wally-have to keep silent about this then. Shouldn’t be a problem,” Dick said with a shrug.

“Yes. It’s a calculated risk but with the public on our side-we could keep the boys. Without it, there’s likely to be…intervention.”

“…I hate the government.”

“Not to mention what the incident will open up. Debates of rather these clones are human or not. If they’d have rights like everyone else. Creationism. If science is going too far-”

“Etcetera-etcetera I got it Boss. What’s the second option?”

“We mark the incident as failed cloning and send the boys to an orphanage.”

-Ouch.

“I know it wouldn’t be pretty-but we could find them good homes with ideal families. Preferably away from Gotham and I can send them funds-anything they’ll need.”

“Bruce-that hurts and you know it.”

“Yes, I know Dick. I don’t want to but with everything that will follow it might be the best option to simple cover up their existence.”

“OK, say we do that-what happens when they run DNA checks? How about years from now when they run into one another at a café, get suspicious, track us down, burst into our retirement home and demand to be told the truth? What do we do then?”

Bruce raised a shocked eyebrow as he asked, “You really think that would happen?”

“Bruce, its US! Of course it would happen!”

That’d be just their luck.

“…I don’t know.”

Dick sighed and raised a hand to rub across his forehead in an attempt to calm down. Bruce took the advantage of silence to walk over and lean against the wall beside his partner.

“What about the annulment then?” Dick asked.

The older man bit his lip before speaking, “We can get it done tomorrow-well today since its 2:00am already. It’s good timing where the UN is concerned; they would have come across the international license sooner rather than later.”

“…I vote for the first option you know?”

“You’d risk our family?”

“Those boys are my family and yours too Bruce!”

“I know Dick. Calm down-I don’t plan to do anything until everyone’s talked in the morning.”

He did manage to take a deep breath and relax his nerves. Miracle or magic-who knew?

“Now come on we need to get some rest. We’ll take care of the annulation in a few hours, leave at 7:00. I already have the plane ready to head to Salamanca and when we get back ALL of us will discuss what we need to do with the boys.”

“OK,” Dick whispered and pushed himself off of the wall before turning left and taking the first step towards his bedroom across the hall. But he suddenly stopped and twisted his head to glance back at the closed door of the nursery a few doors down.

“They’re fine,” Bruce reassured him.

“I just-”

“I’ve got sensors everywhere in the room and outside of it. Also, I’m pretty certain I saw Jason in the bushes below guarding the area and Damian’s apparently already trained Titus to protect the boys; he’s currently out patrolling the yard.”

“OK. We at least have some plans,” Dick said as he took another step towards his bedroom door.

“Dick?”

Until Bruce’s voice stopped him and he turned back to fully face his husband, “Huh?”

“Back in the nursery I noticed um he wasn’t crying and-”

Dick smiled brightly and said, “Yeah, little Brucie’s a godsend. He slept the entire night, didn’t let his brothers’ tantrums bother him and isn’t given to crying fits. Hallelujah!”

“…Did you ever think you would be…uh…”

The younger man smirked, turned, took the last few steps to his bedroom door, which he opened, and then stepped inside of the room. He turned back around and directed his smirk at Bruce as he spoke.

“Answer your own question Boss. Did I ever think I’d have triplet boys with Batman of all people?”

He shut the door.

* * *

Hours later… (5:00am)

_“The Mage Leader Headlines this Morning is causing a riot of readers-_

_Official Photos and Testimony from United Nations! International Marriage License found of Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson! This is Katy Beadley, stationed here in Washington D. C. The long controversial union has come light this very morning. Let’s switch over to Paul Greggson to hear within what is-”_

Tim reached up and shut off the TV via the remote as the sun began peeking over the distant clouds and started bathing Wayne Manor in the early morning light

**NOW** , they were in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh is this series over yet. Please!?
> 
> (1) My own creation of an identity for Damian. Based on many heroes' 'domino' mask, Damian's first case with Dick when they were Batman and Robin concerning the 'dominos' they found and the black and white color scheme Damian originally appeared with. I don't know-I like it!


	2. DUO Timeline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I created a new color-coded timeline for this insane series. Yay?

[](http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/MoonsettaRays/media/tumblr_nkteie0yiQ1s99hymo1_1280_zpseo6csntm.jpg.html)

Thanks for reading! Use whenever you're lost.


	3. Chronicles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ME chronicle #1.
> 
> Promise: The League's been captured. Bla, bla, bla...but Batman already knows he's dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chronicle shorts are based on messages sent back and forth between by beta-reader and I about how the bat family would interact with the triplets. These are random and fun and have no bearing on the plot of any story in the DUO series. 
> 
> Just enjoy.

Superman was worried.

Not so much worried about the fact that some psychotic evil scientific society had captured the League in order to harvest their organs which they were convinced held the secret to their various superpowers. Sometimes humans really worried him just about where they were heading as a species. Because seriously-the key to Wonder Woman's powers was her spleen? Martian Manhunter's secret was his liver?

Oh gosh-if it was all that simple could anyone imagine how easy it would be to grant other people super powers?

Also the group was convinced that Batman was actually a demon from the underworld and his power lay in his kidneys.

Seriously, very very seriously getting concerned about humanity if this was where they were going. He was nothing but a southern farm boy and it sounded stupid even to him!

But-it was not why he was worried at the moment.

He was worried trapped in a cell with his teammates what was wrong with Batman; because the guy was moaning. Not a please-any-deity-above-get-me-away-from-these-incompetent-fools moan but a moan so filled with fear and sorrow that Superman was considering trying to manually dig the magic restraints out of his own skin so he could check on his friend. Even if it meant bleeding out. He was iffy about it being a stupid question though and he hadn't seen the white-clad agents get anywhere near his friend with any sharp tools yet. Yet-Batman was clearly in pain. He should do something even if he was uncertain why the Bat was moaning in pain that didn't appear to have any physical source. 

So if it wasn't physical was it emotional? Was one of his children hurt back in Gotham?

Or was it his...Partner? Husband? 

He still wasn't sure what to call it.

Gathering the words though took a little time and Flash beat him to it.

"Uh Bats? Are you OK? Did they cut you and we didn't notice?"

"No," Batman moaned before gasping and continuing with, "I am so dead."

"Why?" Wonder Woman asked.

"I am so dead."

And that's all he would repeat.

No one could get a clear answer beyond anything than that so they gave up. One minute later though they all jumped at the sound of alarms blaring and lights flashing red. There were three loud BANGS! outside, a small few seconds of silence and then the door exploded inward, pieces of curled over metal flying across the transparent cell wall. The smoke cleared and into the room walked a very ticked Nightwing. Batman whined.

That wasn't good. 

Only when Nightwing threw the switch to raise the cell wall did Superman notice the tri-sling encompassing the young man's torso.

He had brought the boys. Why?

Growling, Nightwing threw the switch to power down their restraints and stomped forward-his glare full force directed at his husband.

"It's not my fault," Batman muttered lowly.

Nightwing huffed and reached out, grasped Batman by his cape and pulled him away from the wall he was trying to melt into. 

"I don't want to hear it!"

The triplets, Johnny and Tommy were in a double sling on Nightwing's back while Brucie was curled up against a single sling pressed against his chest.

"-But I didn't-" Batman tried to protest.

"Shut up!" Nightwing yelled. "You bailed out of their day club orientation to take down a zombie Godzilla with Superman who didn't need you to be there in the first place-!"

"But-"

"-No buts!"

The League were trying to sneak around the duo but froze when the giant robot the society had used to catch them in the first place rolled up behind the arguing bat and bird.

"Look out!" Green Lantern shouted.

Without missing a beat Nightwing shifted his weight to jab his ecrisma stick into the robot's lower joint as he kept up the argument and simultaneously took down the robot in the same moment.

"You promised you'd be there for their first day! And I don't want to hear any more excuses! I don't care how many people you have to bankrupt or buildings you have to blow up. You gave me your word. Didn't he boys?"

Tommy nodded, Johnny yelped in excitement, and Brucie clapped his hands together joyfully.

"See?"

"I didn't mean to-"

"Shut it! Here take Johnny and Tommy and let's go before we're late!"

And with that he dragged a sputtering Batman down the nearest hallway and called out into the building for the Titans to help the rest of the League who just stood there-blinking. 

"...uh..." Flash breathed.

"...Yeah," Wonder Woman finished.

"CLARK DON'T THINK THAT YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF THIS JUST YET! WE HAD TO LEAVE EARLY BECAUSE YOU DRAGGED A CERTAIN SOMEONE INTO LEAGUE SHENANIGANS!"

Flash blinked and gazed over at Superman-who was frozen in fear- before saying, "You-better hide. Like...out in space somewhere...on the other side of the universe...in 3000 B.C."


	4. Glow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Damian, dad's on TV and he's all glowing and stuff!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One exchange between my beta and I that we did after I wrote OK.
> 
> What if Nightwing ended up using the Blue Lantern ring he was gifted and one of the triplets got all excited about it (Possibly inheriting it years later?)

"Damian, dad's on TV and he's all glowing and stuff! Can I glow all blue and stuff?!" Brucie was jumping up and down while hanging on to the arm of the couch.

"When you're older," Damian said, finishing up wrapping up a scrape on Tommy's arm who promptly curled up on his big brother's lap on the couch.

"Am I going to be OK?" Tommy whimpered.

"Tt! They're just scratches you'll be fine."

"But I wanna glow blue and stuff now!" Brucie whined.

"When you're older you can discuss it with Hal or John," Damian explained, closing and letting the first aid kit fall onto the floor.

Eh, he'd get yelled at for leaving it there but he didn't want to move while Tommy was seeking comfort. 

"But-!"

Damian's cell phone began ringing and he pulled it out of his pocket, silencing Brucie with a held up finger, letting that hand fall onto Tommy's head and begin petting him, who snuggled into his touch. 

"Wayne here."

"Hey little demon."

"Todd. If you're calling to tell me you lost him again-"

"Cool it demon, Little J's fine. We're sitting on a rooftop downtown watching the show. You got the news on?"

"Hey is that Damian?!"

"Yeah Little J."

"Tell him Dad's glowing blue! I want to glow blue too!"

"Wouldn't you rather glow red?"

"No, blue's cooler than red."

"Well I still decree that red is cooler than blue."

"If he ends up in an explosion Hood you will pay," Damian growled.

"Hey Bruce and Dick promised me a day with Little J and I'm not going to miss it."

Damian opened his mouth to say something more and then-lost it when their phone conversation was cut into with very familiar voices.

"See even Jason's more attentive than you are!" Nightwing yelled.

Just at the moment a shadow on the television screen swooped in to throw an explosive against the flying mini-UFO's that were beginning to cover Gotham.

"I'm here aren't I and he COULD help us!"

"He is watching Johnny! We're not pulling our son into this battle!"

"Ha!" Jason cheered.

"YAY!" Johnny shouted.

"Then where's Domino?"

"Watching Brucie and Tommy. Right Little D?"

"Of course I am."

Sniffling Tommy glanced up at the phone, reached for Damian's hand and yanked at it weakly.

"I want Daddy."

"Is that Tommy?!" Nightwing yelled and drove off another wave of mini UFO's with an energized wreking ball from his power ring.

Damian sighed and explained, "He missed the landing trying a triple somersault off of the evergreens out back."

"He's not ready for a triple!" Batman yelled into the conversation.

"He wanted to impress you."

Jason pretend barfed and said, "Ugh! This is getting too sweet for me. See ya!" 

"Sees ya!" Johnny yelled in the background and then Jason's line shut down. 

"Tommy wants you here Dad."

"Batman, go home and help your son," Nightwing said.

"You heard him. He wants you-they always do!" 

"Then spend some time with them! I already moved back to Gotham and quit my job in light of our 'outing'-I don't mind covering for you you know?"

"But-"

"Go now! Damian, go tell Alfred that Bruce is being neglective."

Damian smirked and motioned Tommy to crawl up on his back as he obediently said, "Yes sir Dad. Goodbye Father."

"Hey wait a min-!"

_Click!_

Damian cut the line, slipped his cell phone back into his pocket, picked up the first aid kit with one hand and took Brucie's hand with the other while Tommy sniffled into the back of his neck. 

"Let's go find Alfred."

"Will Grandpa make us cookies?" Tommy sniffed.

"You'll have to ask him. OK?"

Tommy nodded.

Brucie on the other hand was pouting and muttering, "I still want to glow blue and stuff."

Damian rolled his eyes towards the ceiling-looking as if he were searching for answers from a higher power. If that kid ever got a hold of a power ring...

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my gosh is this series over yet. Please!?
> 
> (1) My own creation of an identity for Damian. Based on many heroes' 'domino' mask, Damian's first case with Dick when they were Batman and Robin concerning the 'dominos' they found and the black and white color scheme Damian originally appeared with. I don't know-I like it!


End file.
